the towers trying to charge their cell phones. that is something that happened all over the place. moments like that were inspiring. it is going to be a long, paperful recovery for millions of people. strangers helping out can leave us inspired tonight. anderson cooper starts right now. >> good evening, we are here in hoboken, new jersey across the river from lower manhattan. so is the national guard. the crisis far from over. across the air yarrarea. police and rescuers and crews and nurses and doctors so many people working tonight so many more trying to get from point a to point b. for example, across the hudson river to work. or across the east river all day

today with subways out, rush hour was more like a pilgrimage. thousands one step at a time. there is news tonight on griths, airports and power glems and new pictures keep coming in. this is a marina full of boats washed ashore. 14 people died on stat tep island we know that now. three more are missing right now. this is not over yet. we are going to cover all of the angles tonight. with the election near but the disaster now two rivals joined hands and got to work. they saw a shore line battered beyond recognition almost beyond belief. mile after mile of destruction home after home life after life. >> on the ground, at a local shelter, no political

complication, just simple need and promises from each man to meet it. >> governor christy has been aggressive in making sure that the state got out in front of this incredible storm and i think the people of new jersey recognize that he has put his heart and soul into making sure that the people of new jersey browns back stronger than before. i want to thank him. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for the people of our state. >> i'm going to ask you to back up. in hoboken, new jersey, that meant the national guard. rescuing people who were standed and getting hungry. >> in new york's 5th bureau staten island borough made

rooftop rescues. capable observing as offshore helicopter bases this is still a fast moving emergency. proof this afternoon evacuations at another major new york hospital, bellview. in the city it seemed like no one moving. >> anyone trying to drive around new york city today realized traffic was very heavy. >> new york mayor bloomberg announcing bridges were open but limiting cars to three or more. a lot of work ahead. kennedy airport up and running laguardia still closed that crane now they say it is tied down and secure. elsewhere no pregonogress. only a clearer view. here on the jersey shore a

simple fact comes home to the mayor of seaside heights. >> we are at ground zero. we will sort it out at the end. but right now we are trying to get an asem ambulance of what was. >> a lot of people are wondering when the power will be restored. we are blocks from city hall. this is an area where the water was up to the headlights of the cars here. it is now up to midway on my shins my knees. you bet a sense of how much the water has gone down. but there are these photographs floating throughout the water. this is a photograph of somebody's pet. people's possessions in this water and this is an inner section. there is water around here i'm standing on a storm drain and throughout the day, todd was

witnessing volunteers and they were trying to clear out the storm drain and they were pretty successful in terms of clearing some of the streets of water. there is a lot of water that remains here. and still to be pumped out. and word tonight that new york's la gaguardia airport is going t reopen. no trains will be running south of 34th street and there is no power south of 34th street. the financial district the stock exchange did reopen today. superstorm sandy has crippled that system. there is catastrophic damage to underground tracks and equipment. the mta says it is too early to tell whether full service will

return and be fixed. millions of commuters use the system every day. commuters relied on buses, cars and cabs if you were lucky enough to find them. there was gridlock as bad as we have ever seen. look at a live shot of columbus circle south of central park on the west side. central park still remained closed. it has been like this all day. one of the reasons is that crane is still dangling over 57th street and that is creating the massive traffic jam around the circle. jason joins me from the queensboro bridge. i talked to you earlier today and most people have given up trying to get a vehicle they were walking. >> oh, yeah, it has been a frustrating day for thousands of

commuters making their way across the bridge. you can look through the traffic people still making their way at this hour even at 8:00. it is the only way for a lot of these people to get home. we can show you the line still here, people waiting sometimes three or four hours for a bus to show up. you can see now they are waiting patiently, but i want to show you video that we shot within the past 40 minutes or so where you can see people lost their patience. people were trying to get onto one of the buss that pulled up. there was some yelling going back and forth and tempers that were lost and those that needed to get on the bus were able to get on the bus but ptempers wer lost here. no subway service and no train

service today. buses running and doing the best that they can. i spoke to a ups worker a while ago who basically summed it all up. >> i walked from queens boulevard over here. >> put that into perspective for me. >> it was a marathon. a marathon. that is what you can call it. >> what are we talked about in terms of hours? >> two hours to talk. and no buses nothing we need the train service bring it back. >> he really summed it up. basically saying a marathon that is what it felt like. a lot of people experiencing that. they are going to do at least an hour walk. tomorrow promises to be a little bit better. >> yeah, well let's hope each day is getting a little bit better. below 34th street in manhattan,

frustrating down there. there is no cell or internet service no lights. whereas above there is and restaurants are open and there is more normal life. a moment ago, another new york hep hospital bellevue is scrambling to move hundreds of patients to safety. one of the challenges is where to take these patients. evacuation and hospitals are already packing the system. nyu medical center had to move patients during the storm after generators failed. belview is a couple of blocks south of nyu. the pumps that provide fuel are under eight feet of water in bellevue's basement. dr. sanja gupta joins me now. is it still going on right now?

>> it is still going on anderson, and it is expected to go on through the night. you can see some of the ambulances, behind me, here anderson, but also these buses that have started to come in as well. this means they get the sickest patients out first. some of the patients who are not as critical may not require ambulances services and may get transported on the buses. but this has been a continuous process. they are in and out taking the patients back and forth. anderson. >> well, that is what is so disturbing for people in lower manhattan. nyu langone is not an option and bellevue is not an option.

there is not a hospital in lower manhattan to take care of emergency cases. >> it is remarkable. 125,000 emergency room admissions a year. and that is over 300 psychiatric beds one of the largest in the state. it is a real concern and they want to get the operations up as soon as possible. you mentioned the notion about the fuel pumps. the generators were up high away from the water but the pumps that pumped oil were down low. when they pumped some of the water out today they found that the pumps were more damaged than they realized. that is what prompted the evacuation. one thing i want to share with you is that in order to keep that generator runs on the 13th floor they had to create a bucket brigade of national guard posts up 12 flights of stairs.

they had to keep fueling that generator over more than a day. it was a remarkable scene taking place in there. >> wow, that is incredible. appreciate the reporting all day long. for the residents of this damaged water-logged city it was the equivalent of the cavalry, the national guard arriving early this morning. and at the end of his report they got word that 45 guard troops in a convoy of 18 vehicles the troops got word that they would rescue residents. the guard said it has rescued 350 people by this evening and helped to deliver desperately needed food and water.

folks relieved to see the national guard troops. >> very relieved 45 guard troops here. 18 vehicles here and encouraging news tonight. i can tell you the water has receded a great deal. it is my judgement that anyone who is able-bodied in this city is able to leave. the deepest water we saw was two feet deep. most of the sidewalks were clear now. they may not be able to leave. at one point we went into apartment complex where old people lived and they were playing cards and dominos and they did not want to leave. >> you were here 24 hours or so earlier today. >> it was last night. >> you were out with the mayor in a front loader. you were seeing two people being

rescued from the vehicles. >> we drove five blocks from the water to get here. >> yes, three people were in the vehicles i was in the front loader and we were able to rescue the people in the vehicle. >> we picked up a woman and two men not all at once, one as a time. >> we saw the video last night. >> right now, it does not look like a life threatening situation anymore. >> that is good. but it is miserable still for a lot of people. people here don't have much information. there are people gathered here watching us to get some facts of what is going on. people in manhattan cut off. late word tonight that governor chris christie making it easier for local sellers to bring in gas.

when we come back. what the governor and president obama saw tonight add they toured the state of new jersey. ally bank. why they're always there to talk. i love you, james. don't you love me? i'm a robot. i know. i know you're a robot! but there's more in you than just circuits and wires! uhhh. (cries) a machine can't give you what a person can.

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welcome back we are in hoboken, new jersey. the water has receded a lot throughout the day. i'm standing in a section near city hall. gary tuckman has been out for hours. rooftop rescues, similar to scenes in new orleans, in hurricane katrina in 2005, the team of the nypd used a helicopter to lift people who were stranded in their homes by

flood water. down on staten island three people now are missing. we know that 14 people have lost their lives on staten island alone at least 54 across the area so far. as we are seeing at ground level and especially from the air, perhaps the worst physical destruction is along the jersey shore. no doubt about that. today as you saw at the top of the broadcast, president obama and new jersey governor chris christie. >> crisis makes unexpected bed fellows. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his concern and compassion for the people of our state. >> president obama returned the fair. favor. >> he has put his heart and soul in making sure that the people of new jersey bounce back better than before. >> obama and christie touring a

shelter for residents who lost everything. >>. [ inaudible ] >> fema will be coordinating. >> and walking a neighborhood among the hardest hit. >> among the surprises a president not known for displaying affection showed it this day. >> i promise, you will going to be okay. >> and governor chris christie one of mitt romney's stop attack dogs. >> let's give you the plane t k ticket back to chicago. >> it has been a great working relationship. >> the storm's political map on the plus side for the president acting as emergency responder in chief. >> i instituted a 15 minute rule

you return the phone calls in 15 minutes. if they need something we figure out a way to say yes. >> demonstrating a well-funded federal government can help. >> part of the reason we will be able to respond quickly to all of this is that they help that fema financing was in place. leaving aside campaign jabs for post-crisis unit. >> you see neighbors helping neighbors and you are reminded what america is all about. >> on the downside, if power isn't restored to hundreds of thousands of americans they could vent their frustrations at the ballot box. >> consider the politics of all of this. super storm sandy has two battleground states new hampshire and virginia. the way this could hurt

president is by des pressing the early vote. neither new hampshire origingin has in person early votes. it comes down to election day turn out. let's look at the states it did devastate. new jersey, new york, connecticut those are blue states where the president is already positioned to win. anderson? >> the president begins campaigning again tomorrow is that correct? >> yes, he is on the road tomorrow. >> go ahead. he is in colorado, nevada, and colorado, nevada and one other battleground state and then he heads to ohio. >> and vice president biden has been out on the campaign trail and playing the role of the attack dog calling the romney

campaign quote a lie. tell us about that. >> he is swinging against the add that says in part, quote sold chrysler to the italians who are going to build deep in ki china. now them is fighting words when you are campaigning in ohio. he is challenging the facts in that add. the words are are literally correct but mid leading. in the auto bail out president obama allowed for the company fial which is owned by the italians to buy chrysler. so that part is true. but, they are now making some jeeps in china for the chinese markets. the adds make it seem as though they ar are taking american job

and moving them to china. the ceo of the company has said that is not true. bottom line, it shows how much that auto bail out helps president obama with the voters in ohio and iowa. among non college white men in those states is higher than the other states anderson. >> hum, hinting. appreciate that. i spoke about that earlier. what is your biggest priority right now? >> well, getting power back up. i think we have done a good job on search and rescue. there may be elements of that. but the national guard has done a great job. getting lights on. changes people's quality of life and gets business up again and gets kids back into skuxt it is

school. >> what was your meeting like with the president? >> great koocoordination with t state and the federal government and the administration. i said to the president we have to think outside of the box. can we use military transport. great, can we transport them in a c-130 can you help the utility companies get the sub station generating that would open up a lot of use. thinking outside of the box and cutting through the bureaucracy. >> do you have an idea of how when power would be restored? >> we have been on with the utility company, they throw the switch on and they can get it going. what happens to them. they end up going live them.

they receded and have been pumped out. hopefully, tomorrow might be the day which they can actually, if this is not located on a sub station that is not working, then they could deal with it. >> the forecast of this, a lot of people chose not to evacuate. were you surprised given by the strength of the storm? >> you know, i paid attention to the warnings, but the strength of the storm when i was in little ferry yesterday, they weren't in the zone where they were told to leave. and the levee that is never breached ultimately had storm south surges that went beyond expectations. and that is what happened in this one. so we had massive flooding in places like those communities.

we have seen massive movements down in the southern part of the state. you see big shifts being moved right onto land and into people's yards and into people's homes. you see elements when i was in pleasantville right outside of atlantic city a row of homes you look inside and there was a person's home. so the surge ultimately being i think was far beyond any expectations. >> that is u.s. senator and one-time hoboken resident, bob menendez. just ahead. we are going to go to one of the places that took one of the worst hits. we will be right back. [ female announcer ] food, meet flavor. flavor, meet food. it's time for swanson flavor boost.

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welcome back to ho becobokh. it is an erie scene here in hobeken. there is water, not very deep. it is kind of up to my ankles or so and there is a lot of garbage and a lot of photographs like this floating around.

like some people you feel bad that these photographs are floating around and i keep trying to put them up here and i'm not sure that anyone is going to get them. the water has receded a lot. when gary tuckman was here yesterday. three people were rescued by police in this spot. but the water has gone down. that is one of the bright spots here. there is drainage right here. you can see a fish right here. there is a drainage pipe right here. people would come and clear it

out. citizens trying to get the water to go down. i want to check in with michael holmes in tomsriver, new jersey. michael? >> yeah, anderson, you remember the aerial drops of the barrier islands. today we were able to get on the island and see from a ground level the destruction brought by sandy.is consideratable. these areas are popular with tourists. when sandy hit the full brunt hit some of those houses. hundreds of them had been destroyed or knocked off their foundation. sinkholes that had a pick up in it. one of the problems was see iin

gas leaks and fires. we saw houses that were burned to the ground and the gas fires were burning. there are still efforts on going to get the leaks switched off. you could smell the gas in the air you could hear it hissing from the wreckage the houses. you think about the sand dunes. they are gone the water smashed into them the rivers of ocean water taking the sand with it. it is quite a sight. you can't imagine how much work needs to be done to get that place back think it's feet. >> it is going to be a lot of work. appreciate you reporting.

joining us now is the bureau administrator of seaside heights. how is the rescue and recovery operation going at this point? >> the devastation is unbelievable and bsadly, we are slowly starting with actually clean up and reconstruction of some of our infrastructure. we know it is hard for the media and our property owners that want to get over to see their properties and do what they can. i can't stress enough there are gas leaks all over. there is no water. there is no way we could leave or let people start coming in. the emergency management police and fire and public works guys that we have had over there

throughout the whole time our guys never left the island they stayed through the whole thing. they have done numerous rescues, they could not handle it if there were also other people now coming into town. so we have to keep the town isolated and we have had help, utility crews come in and we are slowly starting to rebuild. i can't tell you enough. a, when i went over there how bad it was. i was not there through the hurricane. i was with my family off the island. i couldn't believe it until i saw it. besides everything you have seen. there is the asphalt by the roadways has been lifted up and the houses on the bay side have broken through the wall and it is really amazing but, what is

the most amazing as i said is that through it all, many of them are volunteers, but our emergency management personal and others, they stayed through it all and did an outstanding job of trying to prevent and we can't guarantee anything, but they have been -- have prevented many, many casual tties due to human life and to property of course. so -- >> well, with all of those -- no no, no i appreciate the update. the images are so startling. it is good to get first-hand accounts of what is happening on the ground. do you feel like you have all of the help that you need at this point? >> i certainly we don't have over there operating what we

need at this point. we understand that the entire state has been devastated by this. we have been getting help, we appreciate the help we are getting and believe we are getting all of help we need. we will rebuild. our mayor road through the whole thing there and now they are rebuilding. we will rebuild but we expect to do it better and some things will be different and we'll have to make this into an opportunity and we do anticipate plenty of help from the state and federal government. i cannot say we have all of the help that we need. nobody can get over it yet. we know there are many, many, many places that have to deal with it. we appreciate the help but we could use more.

>> well, john our thoughts and prayers are with the folks who are suffering and have lost so much. we will continue to check in with you. up next a giant crane still hangs above midtown manhattan. we will hear from an expert on how to make this dangerous situation safer. we will be right back.

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oh my good. my god. oh my god. my god. it hit my car? >> that was the scene in montague, new york. three trees fall one right after

the other. one car parked in a driveway crushed there. in other places we know at least two people died. michael bloomberg said that epg nears had determined that engineers are going to have to construct another crane on top of the building.

there are stelill a number of variables in all of this. how safe is this? >> hopefully the city engineers have inspected the assembly that is holding the crane in the air. if that is secured the next will be secured itself to prevent that from falling to the ground. >> that would dismantle the

crane and remove the components and remove the crane. >> what do you think happened here. was this just an error -- usually that is how they are able to last through the high winds. what was the mistake here? >> it is hard to say looking at the video. the functions are electrically controlled. they rely on the electricity to complete the function. it was not releasing the brakes on the crane as they should have been. looking at the video, the boom was pointed up toward the wind. had the crane been rotated in the opposite direction we

wouldn't have this conversation at all. >> i appreciate you talking to us. other pieces of the metal did not survive. here is a look at that roller coaster sitting ip the ocean. the boardwalk gone. just up the coast from there is the community of bellmawr. here is randy k. >> if ever this new jersey neighborhood needed an angel, they found one. they call him saint michael here. his real name is michael irwin

he has been boating people to and from their homes working 12 hour shifts. there are a couple of people trying to get out. ron and pat got out and their dog. chuck we got out and there are a couple of other people we got out to other families. to make sure they got to dry land. >> michael is a surfer and a kayaker so he had a wetsuit and was a boy scout so he says he is always prepared. this is known as the 8th avenue neighborhood. the water is an avenue and is about four feet deep. luckily most of the residents not all of them did evacuate before hurricane sandy hit. eye vene evacuated to her son's house but now that she has returned she needs michael's

help to return home. >> we are pretty high up. almost to the properch. we are down the corner here. the house with the red trim and it is right up. the cellar is gone. the hot water heater furnace everything is gone. this is a tight knit community even the councilman came by in his kayak to see how everyone is doing. >> this is the worst that i've seen it. i have lived here for 60 years and i called my wife and said what is that wife stuff in the lake and it was a wave. and within minutes our house was in done dated by the water. >> when it came within a half hour we were flooded. >> this is your house behind us. >> right there. >> are we in your front lawn. >> in my driveway.

>> so your lawn and driveway you are standing in it. >> right. you are in three feet of water. >> i'm in four feet of water. >> he says he has six feet of water in his house and no power or heat which is no surprise considering the amount of water here. ocean avenue is blocks away and it overflowed into his neighborhood. one look at this car and you can see the water won't be receding anytime soon. >> wow. e any idea when that neighborhood might get some relief? >> not soon enough. they don't expect power to be on for five to seven days. the problem here, as far as you can see is the water. that is because the ocean the atlantic is just at the end of this neighborhood so the water is locked in here. it is not going out with the low

tide. but the good news is that tomorrow they are going to bring in massive pumps and they can pump 40 to 60,000 gallons of water per minute. 40 to 60,000 gallons per minute. they are hoping that some of this water here will make its way to that lake and they will be in better shape. >> yeah. yeah. so many places in need right now. when we come back. the victims of sandy. between life and death. et malib re-imagined from the ground up with 10 air bags and the reassurance of onstar, standard for six months. this is the new malibu -- already an iihs 2012 top safety pick. and now with low lease programs, a malibu state of mind has never been easier to get to, no matter what state you live in. ♪

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>> u up and down the coast what survived and who survived. tonight, right now, a look at some of the victims of this massive storm. tonight we know some of the people trapped by fate. jesse and her close friend jake obwere out for a quick walk in brooklyn monday night. neighbors say a tree was uprooted and pinned them both

underneath. jessie was the daughter of a new york city advocacy group new york city communities for change. she was just 24 years old. her dog max, was hurt but survived. lauren was 24 and in her neighborhood the storm brought down a power lipe a eer line an to spark. lauren touched the line according to police. rescuers were unable to reach her for half an hour. 28-year-old arthur faced flood waters racing into this house. he had taken seven people including a 15-month-old from the attic and was going back into the basement. his body was recovered 12 hours

later. a horrific event unfolded. according to the new york daily news a mother unstrapped her children from their car seats as the water hit their suv. police only confirmed to cnn that the two children were missing. the mom knocked on doors for help but was turned away. >> the fire department said the roof was going to fall and then i started getting scared and i started hurrying up. >> it is so sad. we are just beginning to learn

the names and the lives led by so many that have died. in the coming days we hope to bring you more of them. we think it is important to honor the lives that they lived. we will be right back. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there.

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